2016 Nissan Sentra Review

NEWPORT COAST, California — This is not a small car. Just because it’s technically a compact sedan, there’s no reason to think that the 2016 Nissan Sentra is anything like the little crackerbox that your dad made you drive in high school when what you really wanted was a Mustang.

Sooner or later, everyone grows up

We’ll admit that the compact sedan is not exactly a sexy topic. But even as the shift in public preference to utility-style vehicles has made compact sport-utilities the largest segment in the automotive marketplace with 18 percent of total sales, compact sedans still represent the third-largest market segment with 14 percent of sales.

Younger owners are the prime audience here, just as you’d expect, yet older drivers are also turning to small, affordable cars. As small cars have become accepted into the mainstream over the last 50 years, baby boomers have learned that a small car can deliver big value, so they’re increasingly likely to choose one for their ride into retirement.

The basic, mechanical building blocks of the Sentra haven’t changed since 2013, and yet the driving experience in this thoroughly revised 2016 Sentra feels all new. We’re told that the makeover started right where the rubber meets the road with a selection of Continental tires. Although there’s no zippy high-strength steel in the structural platform, some key reinforcements and a lot more spot welds make the car feel much tighter. The familiar front suspension struts and rear torsion-beam axle now incorporate upgraded dampers, and the ride is as supple as that of a Volkswagen. A recalibrated electric-assist power steering helps reinforce a feeling of unwavering stability on the freeway, while the rear drum brakes that are standard equipment on the lower trim models of the 2016 Sentra perform unobtrusively. The ABS system has even been programmed to minimize understeer in the corners by tugging the inside front wheel toward your apex.

When it comes to performance, of course, the Sentra is still a stone. When you’ve got a package that weighs nearly 3,000 pounds, a 130-hp engine has to work pretty hard, and this ultra-long-stroke, 1.8-liter inline-four doesn’t sound very happy in its work. Fortunately the continuously variable transmission (CVT) has been reprogrammed, so it transmits power in a series of steps (as has become common in most CVT usage lately), and this keeps the engine out of the speed ranges where it would moan in dismay. Even better, the use of an acoustically insulated windshield and lots of added padding in the firewall and doors makes the 2016 Sentra remarkably quiet compared to other cars in its class.

Living in a compact world

The interior of the 2016 Nissan Sentra is the place where you really understand just how far this car has come since its introduction for 2013, when the aftershocks of the Great Recession made us all inclined to think cheap. First of all, it looks much better thanks to a sporty steering wheel and a new TFT instrument display. Second, the surfaces at your elbows are thickly padded, so things feel luxurious. As before, it’s easy to climb in and out thanks to wide door openings and a reasonably high hip-point to the seats, plus you’ll find 37.4 inches of legroom in the rear seat. And you can now fold the right-front passenger seat so it’s flat, and this means you can fit a reasonably long surfboard from the trunk through the 60/40-split folding rear seat. (This a standard of measure along the coast in the O.C. from the cove in San Clemente to the pier at Huntington Beach.)

Just as other carmakers have done, Nissan has incorporated some of its latest electronics in this compact car. An optional suite of active-safety features includes forward emergency braking (20 mph and slower), radar-controlled blind spot warning, rear cross-traffic alert, and even active cruise control. The electronic entertainment system is Apple iPhone compatible with Siri hands-free voice recognition, and navigation is communicated through the 5.8-inch central screen. At the same time, Nissan has made an effort to keep the price down, so lane keeping warning isn’t included and the entertainment system is compatible only with Apple devices.

As much as you need, but maybe not as much as you want

You can have the 2016 Nissan Sentra in a very wide range of flavors: the S with the manual transmission with a $16,780 MSRP and the models with the CVT—the $17,630 S, $18,030 FE+ S, $18,550 SV, $20,410 SR, or $22,170 SL. And you can expect 27/36 mpg city/highway from the stripped-down S with its manual transmission, 30/40 mpg city/highway from the mpg-oriented FE+ S, and 29/38 mpg city/highway from the CVT-equipped S, SV, SR, and SL.

Of course, each of these cars is built to a price, so there are tradeoffs that you have to make when it comes to equipment. To its credit, Nissan has done its best to deliver a practical choice with an optimal amount of active-safety features, and it reckons that a 2016 Sentra SV with the Driver Assist Package will deliver its new NissanConnect emergency service, a range of mobile apps, navigation, and the active-safety features that you appreciate every day—blind spot warning and rear cross-traffic alert—for a price under $20,000.